Beans are cheaper dry than canned though. If you have the patience you can start them in a slow cooker before you go to work.
Garlic, onion, and peppers go miles in making beans taste good while also being cheaper.
I’m wondering now though whether the cost balances out because dry beans require a lot more energy to cook? I know they need at least an hour on the stove, whereas canned beans you can just add to a chilli etc straight away
Pressure cooker is the way for dry foods. Mine will do split peas lentils and mung bean stew in 12 mins.
If you are poor, a pressure cooker is out of reach if you don’t already have one.
I think time to cook food has become a luxry in the eyes of the so-called “invisible hand”. It’d be rad to find someone in the community with the time to cook huge pots of the stuff and pay them for the rice 'n beans.
Cereal is expensive, people arent buying it because its cheap, theyre buying it because the invisible hand demands their cooking time.